Nov 20, 2012 | Pete Verbeek | 848 views
Good Times at Huntsville Tourney
What a great fall weekend to be hanging out in the Muskoka's for a hockey tournament. The Novice Reps had great weather, great accommodations at Hidden Valley Resort and a great time at the Duke Knox tournament in Huntsville this past weekend.
The team was unsure of what to expect from their opposition for the tournament, but assumed we would be in tough.
First up was a tilt with a strong team from Ingersoll on Friday afternoon. The Express have been decimating many opponents this year, so we knew it was going to be a battle. The team played strong throughout the first period holding Ingersoll to 1 goal off a bank shot from behind the net. The second was not so kind to the team as Ingersoll capitalized on the breakdowns in our end and put up 6 goals to hold a 7-0 lead heading to the third. The third period was better than the second, but Ingersoll would score 4 more before Ty would score on a great pass from Carter Coombs to get the Cyc's on the board late in the game. Ethan made a bunch of great saves in this game or the score could have been even worse. FYI - Ingersoll would go on to win the tournament easily beating all opponents they faced.
After a enjoyable evening and morning of fun an relaxation, the team was back in action vs the North Bay Trappers. Apparently the fun times must have agreed with the kids because they came out on fire and scored early and often. Knowing that they would need a good goal differential to advance further in the tournament the team did not let up the whole game and came out with a 16-0 win. The team played hard from start to finish in this all around effort. The defense of Brooke, Drew, Carter Coates, Jay and Logan limited the Trappers to only two or three shots. The points for this game were as follows: Carter Coombs 8 goals and 3 assists, Camden 2g 1a, Owen 2g 1a, Caleb 2g, Ty 1g 2a, Brayden 1g 1a and Jay 1a.
Game #3 was a date with Parry Sound with 2nd place in the division and a chance at the wildcard on the line. Again the team was ready to play and took a 1-0 lead when Coombsy won the faceoff, Caleb tapped it back to Drew who fired a terrific shot into the corner of the net. With time winding down in the period, Coombsy would score from Caleb and Brayden to hold a 2-0 advantage going into the 2nd. Mr.Coombs would score again midway through the period from Owen and Harrison before Parry Sound would get on the board to make the score 3-1 going into the final period. The defense shut the door the rest of the way to keep the play in the Parry Sound end for most of the game and 3-1 would be the final. Again the other team was limited to only 3 or 4 shots.
It was about halfway through this game that we found out that a win would get us the wildcard place in the semis with a better goal differential that the opposition due to a couple of minor upsets in the other divisions.
After a good dinner and a swim, the kids tucked themselves into bed to get ready for the semi-final matchup on Sunday morning vs the Nickel City Devils. The game did not start so well with the Devils scoring 14 seconds into the game. The team would settle down and put the pressure on the Devils but could not equalize. Midway through the second Nickel City would go up by 2 before Camden would score with a great shot to close the gap (Ty assisted). A minute later Nickel City would score 2 quick goals in 20 seconds to go up 4-1 entering the third. Camden would get one back a couple minutes into the third on a great rush. The Cyc's would keep the pressure on for the remainder of the game and with 55 seconds left, Ben would close the gap to 1 on a great feed from Coombsy and Camden. Unfortunately this was a close as the kids would come as Nickel City rounded out the scoring with 3 seconds left to make the final 5-3, eliminating the Cyc's from the tournament. The team outplayed the Devils for most of the game but could not beat the Devils goaltender when needed.
It was a great tournament for the kids, coaches and the parents both at the arena and the hotel, as everyone had fun.
See you at the rink, ya piece of .... !